Description

Pro Patria presentation. Produced by British Instructional Films Ltd.

A pond. The stream is choked with flowering water plants. Frog spawn in C/U compared to semolina. Time lapse photography of the growth of tadpoles in the frog spawn. Tadpole leaves egg and travels through the jelly. They stop and "take breath" on the surface of the jelly. Shot from below of the young tadpoles. C/U to show blood circulating. C/U of the gills. Growth cycle of the tadpole described as we see them in various stages of development. Tadpoles feeding. Beetle larva grapples with a tadpole.

Freckled tadpole in C/U. Small humps appear at the base of the tail. These develop into hind legs. The front legs begin to grow. Tadpole becomes frog. We see frog hopping around in undergrowth in slow motion. Extreme C/U of frog's face. A small stick is used to show how the eye will close and be pulled in at any sign of danger. The frog's breathing action is described. Frog grabs a caterpillar with its tongue. The toad in slow motion eats some caterpillars - we see his tongue coming out. A piece of "watch glass" over the top of some worms doesn't stop the frog from eating them. It flips over the glass to get at the food.

Frog uses its front feet as hands to deal with a very long worm. Webbed feet are pointed out. Highly magnified section of the webbed skin with blood coursing through the veins. Frog swimming underwater. The frog and his reflections "make some quaint patterns" (very cute!) We see a webbed foot "waving farewell".

Note: several prints exist - check for best quality. French and German tracks exist.